


7 AM

by caveyoja



Series: The Family You Choose [2]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 15:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14475993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveyoja/pseuds/caveyoja
Summary: Molly and Alex realize something is going on with Gert and Chase, and Chase begins to worry about Gert's nightmares.Not beta'd so please excuse any errors





	7 AM

Every morning since they’d gotten here she had stumbled into Gert’s room just before the sun came up and borrowed her dinosaur. Because, honestly, she was so tired of playing little sister to five kids who were barely older than her and had their own problems anyway, thank you very much. She needed a little breathing room, and hiking around the desert before it got too hot, with a dinosaur to protect her of course, was the perfect way to keep herself from accidentally throwing a medium sized boulder at the next one of them that told her she really should be trying to study while they were hiding out.

She’d take that from Gert, because, older sister, but Alex? Medium sized boulder with his name written all over it.

So, really, after two weeks of the same routine, there had been absolutely no reason to expect that this morning would be any different. Not a single clue from her sister. Not one. She had even asked Gert last night – so, how are things going with Chase? - and had been answered with an eye roll and a tired sigh that was supposed to make her want to give up asking the question. Like that was going to work.

Which is one of the things that made it even more surprising for her to be standing here now in Gert’s doorway. Looking at Gert and Chase in bed. Together. With Chase snoring. Gert wasn’t snoring, but she was pretty much wrapped around him. Thank God they still had their clothes on.

Obviously, something had happened last night. She just wasn’t sure if it was a good something or a bad something. Now, no one shipped Gert and Chase more than her, but, right now? When Gert didn’t have access to her meds? After weeks of low key sniping at each other, then suddenly they’re...not? 

This had the potential to be really, really bad, so she was having a hard time putting a happy face on it. 

She remembered how Gert had been before she had started her meds. She’d worry to the point where it overwhelmed her, and then do something impulsive, because that was better than waiting for any of the catastrophes she was anticipating. Then, she’d try to backtrack and “fix” whatever it was she thought she messed up, and everything would just spiral further out of control.

Now that she’d been off her meds for nearly two months – was that what this was? And, if it was, did Chase know what she was doing? He was a cool guy, and she knew he’d never do anything to hurt her sister, at least not intentionally, but he was shitty at reading people. If this was Gert being off-her-meds-impulsive-to-cope, then maybe he’d be the one getting hurt. He’d been giving Gert lovesick puppy looks behind her back even since before they ran, and if she tried to back away he probably wouldn’t realize why she was doing it. Because, yeah, genius IQ, but no clue about people. Especially no clue about her sister.

Gert started to wake up, and Molly really didn’t want to talk to her about this until she’d thought about it more. She motioned to Lace, who eagerly headed to the door, and closed it softly behind them.

 

Molly leaned against Lace on the floor in the corner and watched everyone else in the motel dining room. Karo and Nico were in their own little world. Alex would usually be watching Nico without making it look like he was watching her, but today he was watching Gert and Chase, trying to figure out what was going on. Molly didn’t blame him. Yesterday they’d been impatiently glaring at each other across their oatmeal and today they were huddled together, just as oblivious to the outside world as Nico and Karo.

Alex looked around the room to see if anyone else noticed the change, and spotted Molly. He motioned to Gert and Chase, his gesture asking, “What the hell?” Molly shrugged in response and Alex took that as a signal to head over to her.

She raised an eyebrow when he got close enough that they could talk quietly. “You tell me to do homework again, I’m throwing a boulder at you.”

Alex raised his hands in surrender, and sat next to her, “I hereby give up any attempt at furthering your education. You’re on your own.”

Molly smiled, “Cool.”

“But – um -” he gestured at Gert and Chase, “What gives?”

Molly frowned, “I’m not sure. “

“Maybe they got over what they were fighting about?” 

“I’m not really sure they have anything to fight about. It was just how they communicated, you know? Or, at least how they used to.”

“But – this is good, right? I mean, this is how they were when we were kids. They always used to have each others backs – well, at least until - “

“Chase turned into a douche?” Molly interrupted.

Alex chuckled and nodded, “Well, yeah.” They lapsed into silence and watched as Gert and Chase finished their breakfast and headed back toward her room. Alex glanced at Molly, and seeing her expression, observed, “You’re worried about this.” Molly nodded, but didn’t answer, so he prompted, “Why?”

Molly pulled her hat further down on her head, “It’s probably nothing,” she said defensively.

“Or, maybe it’s something. I promise not to tell anyone.”

Molly sighed and nervously started picking at the tassels on her hat, “It could be really good for them.”

“Or – it could be really bad?” Alex guessed.

Molly nodded, “All of you were gone when she got sick. Before she got on her meds, she could be kind of self destructive.”

“Self-destructive?”

“I don’t mean like turning herself into the cops kind of self-destructive, more like screwing things up for herself?”

“Sort of self-sabotaging?” Alex offered. 

“Yes! That’s what I meant. It was sort of like she was scared of what would happen if she got something she wanted, so she just made sure she didn’t get it.”

Alex huffed out a laugh, “Yeah, I’m familiar with that.” Molly raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. “I think that’s kind of what I did with Nico.”

“I don’t understand – I thought she dumped you because she figured out she was gay?”

Alex shook his head, “I don’t know – maybe that was part of it? But we were over before she got together with Karolina.”

“Because you sabotaged yourself?”

“Yeah. Not like the way you say Gert does when she doesn’t have her meds, but yeah, I messed things up between me and Nico, and I kind of knew I was doing it at the time.”

“Then – why’d you do it?”

Alex shook his head, “I’ve been thinking about that for a while. I tried to convince myself it was because I thought Nico would be better off without me telling her something because I knew it would hurt her. But, ever since she got together with Karolina, I think I’ve figured it out.” Alex paused an looked down for a second, then back up at Molly. “You know what I see when I look at Nico?” Molly shook her head. “I see Amy.” Alex leaned forward, his arms across his knees. “Amy always thought I had a crush on Nico, and I kind of let her talk me into that. But – honestly? I was into Amy, even if I was too young for her.”

Molly was silent for a few moments, then asked, “Are you going to tell Nico?”

Alex shook his head, “Nope. She’s still pissed at me, and every time I try to talk to her I can see her thinking I’m one step away from being a psycho stalker ex-boyfriend. Plus it hurts seeing how much like Amy she is without actually being Amy.”

“You still miss her?”

Alex nodded, “Every day.”

“Think you’ll ever get over her?”

Alex shrugged, “Haven’t yet.” He sighed and nodded his head to the hall Gert and Chase had gone through. “Anything we can do to make sure those two stay together? I’m getting tired of the looks they keep giving each other behind their backs.”

“I know, right? It’s so freaking annoying!” Molly agreed, and then smiled as she asked, “So – you ship them too?”

Alex groaned, “God – I hate that word. But – yeah – I ship them. What do we do about it?”

“For now? Nothing. Maybe I’m wrong, and Gert’s handling things better now.”

“And if you’re not?”

“Then we lock them in a room together and don’t let them out until they’ve figured things out.”

Alex laughed, “Extreme shipping intervention. Count me in,” as he and Molly bumped fists.

 

Gert leaned against the doorway watching as Chase cleaned her bathroom. “Did it look like Molly and Alex were up to something this morning?”

“It always looks like Alex is up to something,” Chase sat on the edge of the tub and took a swig from a water bottle.

“Probably because he usually is.”

“True. But – Molly not so much. Maybe he’s asking her to help him get Nico back?”

Gert shook her head, “Nope – I think he’s given up on that.”

Chase raised an eyebrow skeptically, “He’s always staring at her. I think he thinks he’s still got a chance with her.”

“And you don’t think he does?”

Chase shook his head, got up, and started wiping down the sink, “Nope. Karo and Nico are majorly into each other.”

Gert looked down, crossing her arms and huffing out a bitter laugh, “Well, that explains what happened to your Plan A.”

Chase turned around to face her, “What?”

Gert scowled, “Karolina. If she had been into you, would you even be here?”

Chase put his fingers on Gert’s chin and raised it up so she was looking at him, “First off – if I ever had a plan A, it was you, but I thought that was off the board.”

Ger’s scowl deepened, “So, you’re saying you didn’t notice me trying to get your attention?” At Chase’s look of confusion Gert rolled her eyes, “Tutoring you in Spanish? Forcing Alex to have me go with you to go check out your Dad’s lab?”

The corner of Chase’s mouth turned up in a smile, “You were trying to get my attention?” Gert threw her hands in the air and growled, heading back into the bedroom and sitting down in a side chair. Chase followed her and knelt on the floor in front of her. “I’m sorry – I didn’t get that. I kind of thought you felt sorry for me.” At Gert’s incredulous look, Chase continued, “You know – because of what my Dad would do if I flunked? Or, if my Dad caught me at his lab?”

Gert sighed and leaned back in the chair, “But – of all the girls you could have picked - why her? I mean, she’s so … perfect – and I’m...”

Chase grabbed her hand and looked up at her, “Gert, you’re better than perfect. You’re you.” She rolled her eyes, but he jumped in before she could argue, “Perfect is what people call it when you do what they want – when they have some picture that someone decided is what you should be. But, that picture is bullshit. It’s a guy on the cover of Time who goes home to beat up his wife and kid. It’s a bunch of rich philanthropists who have been killing runaways for 15 years. On the surface, it looks like what you want, but it’s fake.”

“So – Karo’s fake?”

Chase shrugged, “Probably not. But the only reason I hung out with her was because she fit the picture of what I was supposed to want, and it wasn’t ever any more than that.”

Gert’s mouth straightened into a thin line, “So, you’re saying I don’t fit the picture.”

Chase shook his head, “No – I’m saying I don’t want that picture. I’m not sure I ever did, but I’m so fucking weak – I just roll over and give in to what everyone expects me to do. But you? You’re real. I think I used to be real, back before I left, but I lost that somewhere. I want to be real again, and it’s probably the most selfish thing I’ve ever done, but I know that I can be real with you.”

Gert asked with a smirk, “So – you’re saying you don’t want the sexy girl because sexy is fake, you want the ordinary girl because ordinary is real?”

Chase’s eyes widened, “Are you kidding? You don’t know how sexy you are? You didn’t notice me checking out your ass?”

“What?” Gert asked, choking back a laugh.

Chase smiled, “There’s this one pair of shorts you used to wear that -”

Gert began to blush and reached out to cover his mouth and stop him. “OK – so, you’ve got the hots for nerdy feminists.”

Chase shook his head, “Nope – just one nerdy feminist. With purple hair and a cute ass. And, have I mentioned your tits -”

Gert covered his mouth again, “You seriously need to stop there before I have to kick your ass.” Chase nodded, kissed her hand, and got up to head back to the bathroom. She called after him, “You said, firstly, there was no plan A. What was second?”

Chase chuckled, “Secondly, do I look like a guy who makes plans?”

 

 

Chase pulled Gert closer but didn’t try to wake her. They’d been sharing a bed for a week now, and she’d had nightmares almost every night. He’d woken her the first couple of times, but then she’d remembered them the next day and had to deal with them. When he let her sleep through them, she didn’t say anything about them the next day, which he was hoping meant she didn’t remember them.

But, this one was worse. She’d started by flailing her arms like she was trying to push someone away, but was crying now, and he couldn’t _not_ do something when she was crying. He shifted on the bed, getting on his knees and grasping her by the shoulders as he shook her awake.

When she woke, she gasped and stared at him, whispering, “You’re alive?” before she threw her arms around him.

He put his arms around her, kissed the top of her head, and murmured, “It’s ok, baby, I’m fine, it was just a nightmare.” He felt her nod, and after a few moments she stopped crying. “Tell me about it?” he asked.

He wasn’t sure she was going to answer, but after a pause, she said in a weak voice, “We were where they killed all the kids...and they were killing us – I watched them put Molly and you in those boxes, and I couldn’t do anything to save you. Both of you were screaming for me to help, and I couldn’t get to you.”

He pulled back and brushed the tears from her cheeks, “It’s not going to happen. They’re going to jail, we’re going to be ok.”

She shook her head, “You can’t guarantee that. You saw Jonah – what he can do.”

He nodded, “Yeah – and I’ve seen what we can do too. We busted Karo out from under his nose, and we’ve been off their radar for months. Alex has been feeding tips to reporters, and he’s got that mysterious contact back in LA keeping tabs on our parents. We’re going to be ok.”

“I wish I could believe that.”

“Why can’t you?”

She let out a shuddering sigh and laid back on the bed. He stretched out next to her on his side, brushing the hair from her face and watching her in the dim light as she spoke. “I can’t stop thinking about all the ways things could go wrong. One of us could get picked up on a grocery run. Someone could find us here. Someone could spot Lace. Your Dad could have some kind of tracking device implanted in you - ”

Chase broke in, “Wait a minute – what? A tracking device? I mean – I’ll give you everything else – and Alex has drilled into us exactly what to do if any of those things happen – but, a tracking device? Wouldn’t I have noticed him putting it in?”

Gert shrugged, “Not if he did it when you were little. I mean – come on – he’s an evil genius, right? What better way to keep track of you without you even knowing about it.”

Chase’s eyes widened, and he fell back on the bed, “Well...crap. It makes sense when you put it that way.”

Gert rolled onto her side and looked down at him, “Well, if it helps, I did, um, observe you pretty closely, and didn’t notice anything that looked like a tracking device.”

Chase guffawed, “Were you seriously looking for one at the time?”

“At the time – no – I had other things on my mind. Plus, I was on my meds then.”

Chase rolled back on his side so they were facing each other, “Is that why you’re getting nightmares? Because you don’t have your meds?”

Gert shrugged, “With what we’re going through – I’d probably have nightmares with them too. But they wouldn’t be as bad.”

“And you wouldn’t have figured out about my tracking device?”

“And I wouldn’t have figured out about your tracking device.” 

Chase rolled onto his back, and wrapped his arm around Gert, who snuggled into his side. “You know – just for the sake of security – maybe we should consider taking another look for that device.”

Gert nodded solemnly, “Absolutely. We should talk to Alex about it in the morning.”

Chased tilted his head down to look at Gert, and she looked up at him with a smile, “Not what I meant.”

“I know what you meant,” she said with a raised eyebrow.

Chase kissed her forehead, “What I mean is that I’m interested, but I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

Gert smiled, “I know.” She paused, looking up at him, and then stretched up and kissed him. 

Chase kissed her back, and raised eyebrow as she leaned back. “What was that?”

Gert shrugged, “Just trying it on for size.” 

“And?”

“Not bad, jock jams. Not bad.”

Gert yawned as they snuggled closer, and Chase pulled the blankets up over them, whispering, “Night, babe.” 

 

Chase stared at the cup of coffee in front of him. Or at least, what passed for coffee these days. Normally, he could get by without having to choke this down. But today? He hadn’t been able to get back to sleep after Gert’s nightmare, and had been awake when she’d had two other less severe nightmares. By the time Molly came to borrow Lace, he’d figured any more sleep was a lost cause so he headed to the motel kitchen. Which brought him here, staring a what had to be the worst cup of coffee in existence while he worked up the ambition to gulp it down in one shot to limit how much of it he would have to taste.

“Chase!” Chase jumped as Alex clapped him on the back and sat in the chair next to him. Alex sipped his own cup of coffee, and Chase couldn’t help but admire how he’d barely grimaced. “Dude – you look like crap.”

“And good morning to you too, Wilder.”

“No – seriously – you look like you haven’t slept in days.”

Chase shook his head, “I’m ok. It’s just Gert gets nightmares sometimes.” Chase took a sip of coffee and immediately regretted it.

“Nightmares about what?”

“Take a guess.”

“OK, then. The parents? Jonah? Both?”

“Yep.”

“Anything we should be worrying about?” Chase looked up, wondering what the hell Alex was getting at, and glared at him. Alex held up his hands defensively, “I’m not saying we need to worry about Gert. I’m asking if her nightmares were about things we haven’t thought of.”

Chase sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes, “Only if tracking devices are a problem.” When there was no reply, Chase looked at Alex, who was staring into space with what they’d all come to recognize was his “I have an idea” face. “No, Alex – my Dad did not plant a tracking device in me, ok?”

Alex shook his head, “Dammit – how did I not think of that?”

“Dude – I’m half a quart low on caffeine. Would you just please spell it out?”

“We should have checked for tracking devices – everything we brought with us, and, yes, even us. I mean, if they can plant an ID in a cat or a dog, how hard would it be for your Dad or the Minorus to come up with a tracker that we wouldn’t even know is there.”

Chase stared at him, “You have lost it.”

“It’s worth checking out.”

Chase shook his head, “Fine, whatever. So – what are we looking for? Radiation? Radio waves?”

“What would you use?”

Chase shrugged, “Radiation, I guess. Easier to isolate, but it does run a risk of, you know – radiation poisoning. Do you honestly think our parents would subject us to radiation poisoning?”

“Maybe if the dose was low enough...” Alex mused, and started staring into the distance again.

Chase shook his head, grimaced, and gulped down the rest of his coffee, gagging after he’d swallowed. Molly wandered into the kitchen followed by Lace. She sat down across from Chase and opened a box of Captain Crunch, eating it by the handful. Chase grimaced, “Mols, you are going to be bouncing off the walls in an hour.”

Molly shrugged, “As long as I don’t have to drink that coffee.” She took a closer look at Chase, “Dude – you do not look good.”

“So I’ve been told.”

She waggled her eyebrows, “So – my sister been keeping you busy?”

Chase leaned toward her, “Why don’t you ask her that?”

Molly laughed, spraying crumbs of cereal on the table, “Because I don’t want her to kick my ass.”

“She sees you eating like that, she’ll kick your ass anyway.”

Molly shrugged. “Seriously – what’s up? And, where’s Gert?”

Chase ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “She’s been having nightmares, so she hasn’t been sleeping well. She was sleeping pretty peacefully this morning, so I figured I’d let her try to catch up.”

Molly stopped eating and frowned, “Nightmares?”

“Yeah.”

“Bad ones?”

Chase looked at her suspiciously, “Sometimes. Why?” Molly looked over to Alex, who was frowning as well. “OK – you two have been planning something for days now – what is going on?”

Alex crossed his arms and leaned back, “Molly was telling me what it was like when Gert first got sick – before she was on her meds.”

“She had a lot of nightmares,” Molly said with a solemn nod.

Chase crossed his arms defensively and leaned back, mimicking Alex’s posture, “So – what are you saying here?”

“She got really bad before Dale and Stacey found the right mix of drugs for her,” Molly explained. “She wouldn’t leave her room, or she’d have panic attacks, and she’d go days where she couldn’t sleep, and then get nightmares when she finally collapsed.”

Chase shook his head, “It’s nowhere near that bad now. She’s handling it.”

Alex frowned, “For now, yeah, and given what we’ve been through, that’s pretty damn impressive. But, she hasn’t been off her meds that long. What if things get even worse?”

Chase leaned forward glaring at Alex, half suspecting that Alex wanted to cut his losses and leave Gert and Lace behind.“So – what do you suggest we do?”

Alex held up his hands defensively, “Get her meds.”

Chase blinked at him in surprise. “You want to what, now?” 

Molly nodded enthusiastically, “I know exactly where they were in her room – we were going to sneak in one night and grab them.”

Chase stared at them, “That is the most idiotic plan I’ve ever heard – and when I say that you know it’s bad.”

Alex leaned forward and started counting out points, “OK – look – first, they’re not going to be expecting us to break in to the Yorke’s house. Second, we were going to plan a diversion – my contact can plant a report with the police saying we were spotted somewhere. And third, Gert needs it, so it’s worth the risk. It’s like Gert said, we’re family, and that means taking care of each other. That doesn’t end with rescuing Karolina.” Alex leaned back, looking straight at Chase, “So – you in?”

Chase frowned and shook his head. He knew exactly what Gert would say – it was a stupid risk, and she was doing ok without medication, even if he was beginning to suspect she wasn’t. “Gert wouldn’t want us to do it.”

Alex crossed his arms, “This isn’t just about Gert. We sink or swim together – and we need her. Not just because of that freaky connection she’s got to Lace, but because she’s our conscience. I can get way too focused on the safest thing to do – and it’s not always the right thing. And, when it isn’t, I know she’ll be in my face about it. If she’s too out of it because of her anxiety, she can’t be what we all need her to be. She can’t be what she needs herself to be. And, that makes it more dangerous for all of us.”

Chase stared at Alex. He knew he counted on Gert to call him on his bullshit, but hadn’t realized Alex was relying on that as well. “Look – I don’t disagree with you about Gert knowing right from wrong better than any of us, or that we have to stick together, but my biggest priority is her. Not what she can do for us, but making sure she’s ok. Making her responsible for deciding what the right thing to do is for all of us? Even with her meds, I wouldn’t want to force her into that spot.”

“Your proving his point,” Molly broke in. “Alex can be an asshole sometimes -”

“Hey!” Alex objected. Molly stared at him unblinkingly, and Alex sighed and nodded, “OK, yeah – appointing Gert our conscience is kind of an asshole move.”

“Thank you,” Molly acknowledged and turned back to Chase. “Gert wouldn’t tell everyone what the right thing to do is because we ask her to. She’d do it because that’s who she is, and we wouldn’t be able to stop her. And I’m completely with you on Gert being our first priority. But this is way worse than Gert just being unhappy. This is Gert not being able to be who she really is, and she needs her medicine to fix that. If I needed insulin or something, you know she’d have already broken into a drug store by now. You want a decision on right or wrong? Fine. I’ll give it to you - getting Gert her meds is the right thing to do.”

The door behind them opened, and they all pulled away from each other. Nico and Karolina entered, pausing at the door and looking at them suspiciously. “So – what’s going on?” Nico asked.

Alex, Molly and Chase looked between each other, and when none of them offered an explanation, Karolina sat across the table from Alex and observed, “Yep. Nothing suspicious here at all.”

The silence dragged on until Chase sighed, and explained, “We were talking about Gert’s meds.”

“What about them?” Karolina asked.

“Yeah – I mean she’s kind of on edge, but she’s been coping, right?” Nico asked.

“She hasn’t really been coping,” Molly explained “She’s been having a lot of nightmares.”

“Well, that explains why Chase looks like hell,” Nico nodded sagely.

“Thanks, I’ve been informed.” Chase muttered. “We were- “ 

Lace suddenly scrambled to her feet, scattering the chairs around her, and started pawing at the door. Chase ran after her, opened the door, and then followed as she sped to Gert’s room, the others trailing behind them. He heard her screams from halfway down the corridor, and frantically pulled at the doorknob, bursting into the room a step behind Lace.

Gert was huddled in a corner, trying her best to shrink away from whatever her nightmare was throwing at her. Lace approached her, but backed away as Gert started kicking out at her. Chase edged between them, and grabbed Gert’s arms when she tried to push him away. Chase wrapped his arms around her so she couldn’t push him away, and began reassuring her, “It’s ok babe, you’re safe, we’re all safe, just wake up, ok?”

Gert’s struggles slowed to a stop, and Chase eased his grip so he could back away enough to look at her face. She was crying, and repeating, “I’m sorry – I’m so sorry...”

He pulled her back into a hug, rocking her back and forth and kissing the top of her head. “Nothing to be sorry about, babe. Just a nightmare.” 

He bent down enough to get an arm under her knees and picked her up, carrying her over to the bed and then sitting with his back against the headboard and her on his lap. Her crying had died down to sniffles, and he closed his eyes and sighed. He knew what he had to do, even if Gert didn’t want him to and it meant the chance of losing whatever kind of relationship they were building. 

He looked up at the others watching them from the doorway and caught Alex’s eye, mouthing the words, “I’m in.”


End file.
